20 Skills You Can Trade After The End Of The World

People sometimes forget that the smallest and most convenient storage space is in their own heads. If you find yourself in the midst of a disaster and you need to either build or fix something, having the necessary knowledge and experience in your mind instead of in a book will hugely benefit your ability to survive. And if there’s something you need from your neighbors but you’re not willing to trade any of your supplies, you could do some work for them in exchange.

But what sort of skills will be the most useful after TEOTWAWKI? Knowing Microsoft Office won’t do you much good, but knowing how to make soap could mean the difference between health and sickness. Or maybe you could trade your soap for more food. The point is, you need to learn a few skills that will be useful in a post-disaster world. I suggest you take up one as a hobby while you still have time.

Here, then, are 20 skills you can trade after TEOTWAWKI, listed in alphabetical order:

Animal Husbandry. The ability to raise animals such as chicken for eggs, rabbits for meat, goats for milk, etc. There is a limit to how much meat and dairy people will be able to store, and there will be a huge demand for for fresh food.

Clothing. If times are tough, people won’t be able to go out and buy new clothes and shoes any time they need them. They’ll have to fix shoes, patch torn pants, and mend shirts. This is an important skill that has become very rare in modern society.

Communication. If the infrastructure breaks down, common means of communication like cell phones and the Internet will be unreliable, if not gone completely. In that case, people who know how to use all kinds of radios, especially HAM radios, will be in high demand.

Construction. Especially without power tools. It’s worth knowing how to properly fix roofs, board up windows or build outhouses using only basic hand tools.

Cooking. People are going to get sick and tired of eating canned soup and freeze-dried food. If you can cook a tasty meal and dessert without power, people in the neighborhood will thank you with favors or with supplies they don’t need.

Dental. Most people live their entire lives without realizing how much misery they would experience if not for the dentist. A perfect example of this is in the movie Cast Away where the main character has to knock out one of his own teeth. Someone who knows how to clean and remove teeth could be a great help.

Fire Making. Most people won’t know how to start a fire once they’re lighters run out of fluid. People in your area will be safer and healthier if you can help them get a fire going so they can boil water and cook food.

First Aid/Medical. People tend to take doctors for granted, but it will quickly become apparent how important they are. Without doctors, people will need help sewing up wounds, setting bones, performing CPR, and determining which herbs and medications help with which ailments.

Food Storage. Canning, dehydrating, sealing, smoking, etc. Most people don’t know how to store food without a refrigerator. Offer to preserve someone’s leftovers in exchange for help or supplies.

Gardening. Yet another skill that has become more and more rare. Learn to grow fresh herbs, fruits and vegetables, preferably indoors unless you have a secure backyard.

Gathering. The main thing here is knowing which naturally-occurring plants in your area have nutritional and/or medicinal value and which ones are useless or poisonous. But you’ll also need a MacGyver-like ability to find and use trash and items that might otherwise be ignored.

Gunsmithing. If you’re facing a long-term disaster, people are going to need guns for hunting and self protection. It will help if you know how to repair guns and reload shells. But only help people you completely trust.

Hunting and Fishing. When food supplies get low and gardens fall short, people are going to have to hunt and fish. If you can provide meat for your friends and family, they’ll have time to take care of other necessities.

Mechanic. Even if we have a depression worse than the one in the 1930’s, most people are still going to have jobs (remember, unemployment only got up to 25% in the 1930’s), which means they’ll need a way to get to work. The problem for many people is that they won’t be able to afford to get their cars fixed. If you learn how to work on cars, or any machine for that matter (lawnmowers, generators, etc.), you’ll have a particularly valuable skill.

Plumbing. People will still need their sinks and toilets, even more so if they’re washing clothes in the sink. Learn to remove clogs, fix toilets and replace leaky pipes.

Security. You can make your home more secure, but after TEOTWAWKI you’re still going to need someone to stand guard when others are busy or sleeping. This person will need to know how to use weapons and be practiced in hand-to-hand combat.

Soap and Candle Making. If the disaster goes on for long, soap and candles will be in high demand and a valuable trade item.

Teacher. If the schools are closed, it’s still important that children spend time reading and learning. Remember, these are the children that will grow up and rebuild the world.

Water Purification. One of the most important skills of all! In the weeks after a major catastrophe, many people will die from dehydration or from drinking unsafe water. It will help a lot if you learn all you can about cleaning and filtering water.

There are several other skills I thought about including in this list such as bee keeping, brewing, and electrical work, but I think the 20 listed above will probably be the most in-demand skills. Thoughts or comments? Share them below.

One skill I would like to know is leatherwork. I mean from skinning to tanning to harness, belt and boot making. Leather has a long history in the world, not only for shoes and boots, but for drive belts for early machines. Leather can be made from the hides of both domestic and wild animals.

http://twitter.com/aukxsona aukxsona

Psychology… really? With all the guns around, most will blow themselves up before any psychologist gets a chance to try and help. Useless in my book.

Jeremiah Thompson

i would say definitely add beekeeping to the list. honey has sooo many uses, and it would also give you some control over pollinating your crops.

Don Miguel

After reading various fictional accounts (Patriots, Grid Down, One Second After or even going back to Lucifer’s Hammer) describing various system failures that are likely to abound, I think you need to move several more skills to the top 20 displacing skills like cleaning, fire making, and water purification (skills that everyone will have to have to some degree). Given the very high rate of die-off that seems likely, we will need burial skills (not necessarily morticians). Communication skills, especially HAM operators, are likely to be in extremely high demand – unless you contemplate a full-blown EMP disaster and even then. One of the prospects that scares me is the imposition of martial law or rule of man (legit or otherwise) without any balancing of rules of law. Surviving the first year will certainly require fighting or security skills from a large part of the surviving population, but at some point the survivors will need to push for a rule of law. Who will defend the needy? Who will prosecute the accused (not necessarily guilty…)? Who will judge? What about property rights? The guy with the biggest gun wins all? If Mr. Big Gun kicks the widow and her children out of her house, who steps in to save the widow? The stranger on the white horse?

grayfozx114

One of the most overlooked skills, in my opinion, is trapping, as in catching animals such as beaver, muskrats, basically any furbearer, with steel leg hold traps. Traps and trapping have gotten a bad rap in the last few years, unwarranted in my opinion. Learn to set traps properly and you have a device that is clandestine, one which works 24-7, one which gives you the chance to catch animals which are difficult to hunt, often nearly impossible to see, and which are usually overlooked by most hunter gatherers. You will be accessing a source of food and materials which can be used for clothing, shelter, and warmth. It requires a little work to learn the art, traps are inexpensive and connecting to the outdoors is priceless….

Bruster6

And……….Blacksmithing.

Wendy Janzen

To communication I would add handwriting. If the intermess goes down, there will be no pming, texting, or blog posts. Knowing how to communicate using pencil and paper also seems to be becoming a lost art, especially now that schools no longer teach script.

michael s

And, not so much a skill, but, a service, the ability to recharge phones, tablets, other small electronics and cordless tools.

1 dollar per charge doesn’t seem exorbitant.

PostHoleDigger

Unless, of course one paper dollar is worthless

Heretic2011

I’ll charge your device for one silver dime.

Scott

What if the disaster is nuclear? The blast would fry every electronic with an EMP? The electric grids would fry. No satellites nor phones

Pat

Knitting and crocheting for those gloves, hat, scarves and blankets we will need to keep warm. Then add spinning for the yarn, shearing and carding to get the fibers.

Michael Mixon

The right tools can be a great substitute for skills. Those smart enough to get prepared and procure essential backup tools will have a huge barter advantage over those with skills alone! We have manual backups for our corded tools which rely on the grid. We found one that will serve as the backup to our well pump, but also has barter value for assisting neighbors, etc. It is called the Emergency Well Tube. Here is a link to the website if interested, http://www.emergencywelltube.com.

Nocternus

Learn to cut hair. A pair if scissors and a comb weigh next to nothing cost very little and in a colapse scenario will put many a warm meal in front of you.

Lisa

I agree! Schools no longer teach penmanship so the handwriting of most people is horrible!